The Story about the constructed SARS COV-2 Virus - A Review of three Research Groups

Abstract

A literature research on synthetic recombinant SARS Coronavirus was made to answer two questions. Is the SARS CoV-2 virus designed in a laboratory? And why has the SARS CoV-2 such a high mutation rate? A total of 12 research articles, 2 reviews and 10 experimental studies were attributed to three Research Groups, the Wadsworth Center New York, the Vanderbilt Medical Center, and the Chapel Hill North Carolina. The research papers were published between 1991 and 2014. All 12 research papers reported the successful construction of recombinant SARS Coronaviruses based on RNA reverse genetic and molecular techniques. The Research group from the Medical Center at Vanderbilt University proved how an engineered SARS Coronavirus with an impaired Exonuclease resulted in a progeny virus with high mutation rate. Furthermore, the review showed that a zoonotic-human transmission was just possible with specific genetic manipulations at the SARS CoV virus genome through selection of virus species for recombination, and targeted manipulation at non-structural virus domains. But importantly, the studies showed that a SARS Coronavirus cross-species infection such as between zoonotic and humans or between different animal species without the exchange of the virus spike protein domain with the host-specific receptor-binding domain (RBD) and additional point mutations was not possible. Therefore, the SARS CoV-2 was deliberately constructed to overcome the receptor limiting factor for animal-human infection. Interestingly, the review revealed that the study purpose of constructed recombinant SARS CoV changed from the scientific research point of view to vaccine production and development. Competing interests for all reviewed studies by grants from private investors such as the Gates Foundation and vaccine production companies were part of the discussion. Keywords: SARS CoV-2, Covid19, Spike protein, gene sequencing, Vanderbilt University, University North Carolina, Wadsworth Research Center, New York Health Department, Coronavirus, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, WHO, Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, AlphaVax